Page 7 - My FlipBook

C is for Communication

With their bottoms in the air
as they dance on the comb,
it’s the bees’ way of saying,
Bees use dancing, vibration, sight, “Hey, this is our home.”
touch, and pheromones (chemical
substances produced by bees) to pass
on information. The waggle, round,
and tremble dances communicate vital
information about gathering nectar or
pollen, essential food sources for the
bee colony. The waggle dance conveys
quality, quantity, and distance from the
food. The longer the dance, the further
the distance to the source. The livelier
the dance, the better the nectar source.
By angling her body in the appropriate
direction, she tells her coworkers the
exact direction to fly. Amazingly, she
uses the sun as a directional locator. The
round dance is typically used to convey
a nearby food source. The tremble or
vibrational dance alerts the work force
when foragers are bringing in nectar
fast. The returning scout bee, whose
role is to find food sources, may dance
in figure eights and circles while
vibrating her body.

Honey bees have 15 glands that have
been identified for specific uses. These
glands produce “chemical messages,”
passing along information about things
such as danger or safety; behavior
prompts for wax making, swarming,
homecoming, and helping in the manu-
facturing of protein-rich larval nutrition;
and, most important, the health and
location of the queen.